Live review: Iron Maiden, Arena Națională, Bucharest

The manager of Bucharest’s Beraria H Herastrau says that she’d never seen anything like it. An enormous beerhall in the Romanian capital, it’s not a place unfamiliar with thirsty customers, and lots of them. But as the pre-party for Iron Maiden’s return to the city, hosting the now-customary Eddie’s Dive Bar for this spot on the Run For Your Lives Tour, it was something else.

“I’ve never seen so many shirts!” she says in disbelief. “It was literally everyone, like a uniform. We did kararoke, and it was all Maiden, and some of the people could really sing.

“And,” she adds, somewhat prectably, “We sold so much beer!”

Transferred to a 40,000-strong party at the Arena Națională football stadium, it’s a similar story. But you already know the drill: everyone in Maiden shirts, everyone singing the riffs, everyone absolutely devoted to ’Arry and his team. But even knowing all this, even knowing the setlist from the tour’s kick off two gigs ago in Athens, even having seen most of it at last year’s first leg of this 50th birthday bonanza (bar new inclusion Infinite dreams, appearing live for the first time in 38 years), there is nothing so uniquely thrilling as being part of a Maiden show. They may be getting older, but nothing else is.

In fact, the opening battery of early days cuts Murders In The Rue Morgue, Wrathchild, and Killers finds them brawling onto the stage and getting the audience in a willing headlock with the aggression and “Let’s ’ave it” attitude of lairy young bucks trying to take on the world for the first time. Even with a slight fluff during Killers, it’s a wrecking-ball approach to making an entrance that’s just as effective as their more grand, theatrical hellos of tours past.

Talking of which, there’s loads of it. The giant screen that fills the whole back of the stage makes Powerslave even more epic with its pyramid artwork and catacomb vibes. Rime Of The Ancient Mariner becomes an animated movie of the song’s tale of sea-based woe, before fog fills the air for the creepy, desolate midsection that brings a haunting chill to the whole stadium, even on a day so roasting as this. A new thing for the ever-dramatic Hallowed Be Thy Name, meanwhile (no spoilers) is a simply brilliant bit of thinking.

Both Bruce and Steve Harris tell K! pre-gig that when the idea came up to do Infinite Dreams again (instead of Seventh Son sibling The Clairvoyant, as on the last tour), it was pointed out how tough a song it is to sing. Not a bit of it. What’s already a welcome addition is absolutely spellbinding here.

The usuals – The Number Of The Beast, 2 Minutes To Midnight, Fear Of The Dark, Run To The Hills – are all brilliant, as ever partly because they’re such staples to be looked forward to. As FOTD’s main riff drops back in after the sing-along solo, still one of metal’s most exciting live moments, Bucharest goes absolutely, joyously nuts.

At 50, Iron Maiden remain peerless. Steve Harris is seventy, but looks nowhere near. Actually, he looks like he wants to take this whole place on himself, as ever. Even having already won before they set foot onstage wherever they go, there’s still a vital, visceral bite to Iron Maiden, a refusal to coast, a feeling that they’re only as good as what they’re doing onstage right now, so they’re giving it everything.

True, if you’re digesting Maiden’s history into a birthday tour, you could make just as powerful a setlist, two, even, of stuff they’re not playing (and that’s just stuff from 1980 to 1992 that they’re doing here). Even Steve and Bruce agree. But Maiden don’t work on ifs and buts, do they? They pick what they’re doing, and do it as hard as possible.

That’s why we’re here celebrating 50 years, And that’s why they’ve still got their credibility and reputation and buckets of genuine respect. And why, 24 hours before doors have even opened, a beer hall in the East of Europe can become a sea of their shirts as the band take over another city just by appearing there.

Happy birthday, Iron Maiden. Roll on EDDFEST.

Iron Maiden's EDDFEST takes place at Knebworth on July 10 – 11. Order your special edition Kerrang! Presents Iron Maiden magazine with double-sided A2 poster now!

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